748 
EGRET FARMING IN SIND. 
• BY 
Capt. C. E. Benson, D.S.O. 
( With 2 j)lates) 
Whilst spending a fortnight duck shooting in Sind, I took the opportunity of 
visiting one or two Egret farms. My object was to try and form some sort of 
opinion as to whether the method of farming, as practised by the villagers, was 
satisfactory or not. 
There are many difficulties which stand in the way of an individual who 
attempts to collect true information on a subject that closely concerns the 
pockets of the people from whom he is trying to collect that information. Not 
the least of these is, that one is usually mistaken for what one is not. As an 
instance of this, at Changro, in the Kambar district, near Larkana, — a busy 
centre of Egret farming, — I was mistaken for a Government of India official 
expressly sent down from Delhi, for the object of finding some just cause for 
levying an increased tax on Egret feathers. No assurances on my part could 
remove this idea from the minds of the villagers. The information obtained 
there was consequently entirely derived from personal observation, and any other 
facts, for the truth of w'hich I had to rely on the word of the villagers them- 
selves, were not probably strictly within the bounds of accuracy. 
Again, one of the most important features of Egret farming, is the actual 
method of plucking ; for it is in doing this that the greatest cruelty can be 
practised. 
If one cannot witness the actual operation of plucking, the next best thing 
is to be able to see the bird immediately afterwards. This I was able to do at 
an Egret farm on the Munnchur Lake near Boubak Road. The Mahanas on 
the Muimchur themselves proffered a great deal more information than any 
that I had been able to collect either in the Larkana or in the Kambar district— 
information that I was able to verify by personal observation. They were no 
strangers to me and consequently had no suspicions of my having any underlying 
motive for my enquiries. 
Here also I was lucky enough to meet an Excise Officer who had himself 
countless times witnessed the capture, breeding, transport and plucking of the 
birds, and consequently was able to add invaluable and reliable information to 
that which I had already obtained. 
In the following table I have endeavoured to collate aU the facts of importance, 
accuracy and interest obtained from the sources above mentioned, avoiding as 
far as possible any statements which I have not been able to prove either b}' 
personal observation or through reliable information. 
Though there are many Egret Farms in Sind and I have had the 
opportunity of visiting only a very few of them, I am nevertheless convinced 
that the methods practised in one are in the main those jx-actised throughout the 
whole of that country. 
Enclosures for Birds. 
1. The size of the average enclosure is about 40 feet long, 20 broad and 5 
high. 
2. The walls and roof are constructed of poles and matting, or of woven 
reeds. 
3. The floor is of hard mud and the general condition is extremely clean. 
4. The number of birds to each enclosure varies from 80 to 120. 
5. In some places birds are marked according to broods or enclosures by 
dyeing the breast feathers. 
6. No perches are provided for the birds. 
Food and Water. 
1. The food supplied consists of un-chopped small fry. 
